Naruto
by Gender Outlaw
Summary: I am too little for the swings Kiba says. - Young!Naruto. Just for fun.


**Naruto**

* * *

Yellow daises  
sprout  
under the roots of the  
old elms  
where many a child has played before  
but there  
I dare not.

* * *

Sunday  
in the classroom  
between the flies and the heat  
sweat rolls  
down my neck  
onto my paper in steady  
drips  
drops  
until it starts to look  
as if I've been crying.

As if. But the teacher  
sees and  
the class sees and they all  
know.

* * *

I used to think the world ended in  
the mountain  
surrounding our village.  
A line of steady and sturdy rock and trees  
stronger than  
all I knew. And I wanted  
to be just  
like them.

Until I saw  
the sky. Blue and white from end  
to end. And I was certain  
there was more  
even further beyond.

* * *

I am too little  
for the swings  
Kiba says.

Then lifts me up  
until  
his mother sees  
from across the yard and their eyes meet and he  
stops. Just  
like  
that.

* * *

Yesterday I cut myself  
on the stove. I was  
holding a knife  
and cutting  
the carrots  
for soup because I was hungry. But  
it bleed and tasted  
strange. Sharp, almost  
good. But it wasn't  
any good at all and I  
threw it out.

* * *

Sakura sleeps  
during lunch, with her head  
in her arms, pink  
hair everywhere.

She is soft and the light  
lays on her cheek and I  
would kiss it but she would  
wake so I just  
kiss  
my hand instead. The  
blood gets in my  
teeth, it's still  
not healed. Iruka  
sees and he  
stops  
and stares  
until I stop  
smiling.

* * *

I got lost in the market  
and walked and  
walked for hours until I had to sit down  
between the stalls of  
fresh fruit. The  
smell  
made me hungry so I got up and  
asked  
the tomato lady for some  
but she closed her mouth and  
closed her eyes and  
just  
turned away.

* * *

In September I wear  
my orange  
because it makes me feel  
bright, as bright  
and warm  
as the summer sun at it's best  
and I forget  
the gray skies and  
cold wailing wind and  
the rain that drenches me to the bone.

* * *

In the morning  
I went to class  
and listened and  
took notes and paid  
attention.  
But then it was lunch and I  
went home  
to make a sandwich but  
stopped  
and saw the sky  
sitting on the monument  
and knew  
that was what I wanted to do.  
So I took the paints  
stashed  
behind the dryer where they wouldn't get wet  
and wouldn't be  
in the way  
or underfoot  
and carried them all.  
My favorite red, a beautiful  
orange that dripped over the can in bursts  
like the sunrise, slowly,  
going down  
to the green and blue beneath.  
Stacked and bound  
with ropes so I could lift them  
over the wall and  
down  
to the carvings and faces where  
I stayed all day and  
smiled and laughed  
until I cried.

* * *

Chouji stays late  
and sleeps  
with Shikamaru after class  
in the yard where the older kids practice  
with knives  
and stars  
that they say are sharp but I  
never cut with.

And his arm is  
wrapped  
in white cloth  
or something that is big  
and bulky  
and makes him hurt so  
I go  
to them and ask him  
what it is. And  
Shikamaru says that it is a cast for broken bones  
even though  
his face is still sleeping and his  
body is still he  
sighs  
and says I would have one too,  
one day. But  
why  
does he put in a cage  
something  
that will heal  
by morning?

* * *

If I'm quiet enough  
the shinobi don't mind  
when I hide  
in the training grounds in the top branches  
of the big tree that looks  
over the field where  
metal flies  
and people fight  
the trees  
and each other until  
I fall asleep to the clank  
and thump  
of fists hitting and knives striking  
and they make me  
dream  
of a chorus of bodies  
and dogs  
and fur and skin and sweat and  
faces all  
surrounding me until I am  
not alone and I  
wake up  
at night when they have gone and my face  
sticks to the bark  
so I run my fingers over the deep ridges it leaves  
on my cheek  
because I like  
the sensation.

* * *

Monday the sun  
was large and warm and open  
in the wide sky and so I  
went  
into the streets  
past my house and followed the sunlight  
left, right,  
as it fell until I was lost  
between a house with two kids and a dog  
and a metal shop  
where the light reflected  
like little tiny orbs,  
blinding  
suns of their own.  
And I looked up and  
looked up and the real sun  
was right there.  
Then a boy came  
with long black hair and  
red eyes and  
put his hand on my head and  
looked down and  
blocked out the sun and said  
"Go to class," and  
smiled at me so I  
grinned back  
and kept walking until I found  
the outer wall  
that surrounds the village and asked  
the two guys that guard there  
for a bowl of miso for lunch  
even though  
it was almost night. But they  
only brought me back  
home  
and left, and didn't leave  
any ramen at all.

* * *

When I am a ninja  
in ten years  
Sasuke says  
I'll be the best  
there ever was and not  
get killed  
in my sleep. He doesn't  
know what  
he's talking about.

* * *

I like the rain  
when it whispers  
and puts the sun  
to sleep  
because  
it sounds like  
they're singing  
just for me.

* * *

Mizuki came up behind me  
and caught me  
red-handed  
sticking tacks on the chairs  
in the classroom  
and he held  
onto my hand as I looked up  
and apologized and  
swore  
not to ever do it again. But  
"Uzumaki," he said,  
"Sometimes boys  
have to be boys." And he grinned  
at me and I grinned  
back up and he let me finish.  
And tomorrow  
I will tell everyone  
that he is  
my favorite.

* * *

Someone left  
oranges  
on my bed this  
morning  
and I tripped  
over them when I  
woke up. They rolled  
everywhere  
and I love  
the color  
they're beautiful but  
whoever brought them  
is an idiot  
because they taste  
like oranges.

* * *

When I grow  
up  
I'll be on the mountain  
looking down at the village  
like all the other  
faces but I'll  
be different  
because I  
won't forget  
to smile.

* * *

In the water  
I swim  
like a duck Ino says  
and then laughs  
at me and runs around  
with her arms spinning and  
quacks.  
But I  
laugh too  
because I can swim  
faster than anyone else and  
she just  
looks silly.

* * *

Iruka kept me  
after class  
because I skipped again  
and slept  
at home in my sheets until I got too hot  
and went for a swim  
in the fountain in the middle  
of town.

But he saw me  
in my shorts and  
yelled  
and chased me until  
I got stuck  
in some trash cans and  
couldn't  
get free.

Then he made me  
march  
to the school and  
sat me  
in the front row  
where the chair  
squeaks  
if you move and  
SLAM  
went our history text on the desk.

And he wouldn't  
let me go  
home  
until I finished it all.  
Even though  
I called him  
a dirty  
old man.

* * *

Wednesdays  
the bakery across the road  
has a sale  
on everything but  
bread  
they tell me. I don't  
know  
what that means  
but the smell  
makes me so hungry  
that I go.  
Even though  
I can't find  
what's on sale.

* * *

The old man  
came by  
and brought me a cake  
and candles  
and let me light them and  
blow  
them out. And  
light and blow  
until  
he laughed and  
there was melted wax  
everywhere.  
And I ate  
all the cake  
even though  
I tried to save  
one piece  
for him. Then  
I asked if  
we could have cake again  
tomorrow.  
But he said  
no  
and that today was special  
even though  
I don't know  
what's so special about it.  
And when I asked  
he just  
smiled  
at me and put his hand  
on my head.  
But maybe  
I'll get cake again  
next year.  
I think I remember  
having it last year too  
for some reason.


End file.
